Bringing Industrial AI to the National Stage: Volar Alta at Republic AI Pre-Summit 2025
- Team Volar Alta
- Aug 16
- 2 min read
Updated: Oct 9
Volar Alta recently had the honor of participating in the Republic AI Pre-Summit 2025, a platform that convened India’s leading voices in artificial intelligence and public policy.
Our Founder & CEO, Niharika Kolte Alekar, joined 21 panelists in a national discussion on the future of AI in India. As the only woman speaker and the sole voice from industrial AI, she addressed a critical and often overlooked question:
How can AI be applied in environments where decisions carry real operational risk - inside kilns, on refinery stacks, and across plant floors?
Her insights emphasized that AI systems must not only process data but also understand industry - its constraints, its environments, and its people.
Watch the Pre-Summit highlights:
Why Industrial AI Needs a Different Lens
Industrial environments are unlike digital or consumer ecosystems. The data is fragmented, unstructured, and high-risk, making AI integration both challenging and transformative.
At Volar Alta, we’ve learned that effective industrial AI requires a different foundation - one built on contextual intelligence and operational depth.
Challenges Unique to Industrial AI
Fragmented Data Sources: Inputs come from drones, crawlers, and robotic sensors.
Multiple Data Formats: Visual, thermal, and ultrasonic readings coexist.
Harsh Environments: Conditions are unpredictable, and safety is non-negotiable.
This is why traditional AI models often fail in industrial settings - they aren’t built to handle uncertainty, noise, and the complexity of field data.
The Volar Alta Approach: AI That Understands Industry
Our AI systems are designed to interpret industrial data holistically - bringing speed, context, and reliability to inspection and decision-making processes.
Here’s what makes effective industrial AI work:
Deep Understanding of Operational Workflows AI must align with how industries actually function on the ground.
Hardware-Agnostic Platforms Solutions should integrate with any system, not rely on proprietary hardware.
Adaptability to Legacy Infrastructure Industrial AI must work across both modern and decades-old assets.
Field-Level Design Philosophy Technology should be built for real-world conditions, not ideal lab environments.
The Road Ahead
As India moves toward large-scale industrial digitization, AI will be at the center of safer, smarter, and more sustainable operations.
At Volar Alta, we’re proud to bring industrial realities to the national AI conversation, ensuring that innovation serves the people and processes driving our industries forward.
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